The Relic Runner Origin Story Box Set, Ernest Dempsey [summer books TXT] 📗

not, Dak was the reason his career came to a grinding crash. Tucker enjoyed the control, the perception of power that accompanied his position. It was no secret the man had eyes on becoming a general someday, and likely was on track for the promotion.

Now, he was finished.

In his quest for revenge, Dak had opened another can. He pondered a quote from the Bible his mother read to him when he was a child. "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord," she'd say. When he asked about it, his mother explained that when humans seek revenge, it engulfs them. It takes away everything else from life and replaces it with an unquenchable thirst for revenge. Such negative energy, she said, could eventually drive a person crazy. Not only that, when revenge was taken, it opened an unending chain.

Dak realized that had come true. By eliminating Bo and clearing his own name, he'd brought about a new danger from someone who perceived their own injustice. Tucker would stop at nothing to find Dak.

He noticed a subtle movement about fifty yards away. The rustle of leaves confirmed something or someone had ventured into Dak's forest.

"You hear that?" Will hissed. "I think I see it."

Dak rolled his eyes and twisted his head to the right. "Can you shut up? You're going to scare the deer away."

He looked through the scope on his rifle, raising it gradually until he locked on to the animal. The buck's antlers had grown since he'd last seen the creature. Dak smiled, admiring the animal's beauty. It's dark, black eyes stared blankly into the woods to Dak's left. Its light brown and white underside looked perfectly groomed, as if the deer had been brushed down earlier that morning. The buck twitched its fluffy tail, and then went back to nosing around the ground, searching for a snack.

"You gonna take the shot or what?" Will asked.

Again, Dak suppressed the irritation swelling inside him.

With his Nazaré apartment compromised, there was no way Will could return there. He and Dak both knew that Tucker would have gone through everything, ransacking the place for information. Even after Tucker lost his role with the military, Will assumed that the man would have someone permanently stationed there just in case he slipped up and decided to swing by the old residence.

Will wasn't stupid.

While he did have some valuables in the apartment, mostly computers and gadgets, those could be replaced. His fake passports and the bulk of his underground operations took place in another location; in an old knitting mill on the outskirts of town. There was nothing in the apartment to link the two places, so Tucker and whatever mercenary thugs he sent in there would find nothing useful.

Will also performed a remote scrub, erasing anything on his computers' hard drives that Tucker might find useful.

"I don't kill for sport," Dak said. "Only when I need to."

Will twisted his head to the left and eyed Dak with surprise.

Dak lowered the rifle and turned to face his friend.

Will shivered in the early morning chill. "Why do you have the gun, then?"

"Practice," Dak shrugged. "Always pays to stay sharp."

A snort escaped Will's nose and he shook his head. "Yeah, I guess so." He remained silent for a minute as the two men watched the buck meander closer to the tree stand. "They really are beautiful animals."

"That they are. Innocent. Pure. Unlike us."

"We do what we have to do to survive."

"True. Speaking of, what do you think you're going to do? I know you have a scheme somewhere in the back of your head."

Will pretended to be insulted. "Scheme? You make it sound like I break laws or something."

Dak narrowed his eyes and bobbed his head from side to side. "Eh, maybe you operate in more of a gray area."

"Thank you," Will said, and went back to watching the deer. "I have a few things cooking."

"You're not going to stay here in the States, are you?"

"Nah. I found a nice place in Serbia. Beach town, too. Not many tourists come through there. I'll be able to set up shop there within a few weeks."

"Serbia, huh? I hear the beaches are nice. When I get a chance, I'll come visit."

"Please don't." Will looked at him with serious eyes. "At least give me a couple of months to get settled in."

"You act like I'll ruin everything. I'm hurt, Will."

Will chuckled and the deer's head perked up. The black eyes stared at the two men for a few seconds, then the creature darted off into the forest, disappearing in three bounds.

"Let's just say, you have a tendency to draw attention."

"That's fair," Dak surrendered.

"What about you?" Will asked. "Gonna stay here?"

"As long as I can. This place is owned by a shell, so Tucker likely won't find it, but I don't want to hole up forever. That's no way to live."

"So, what then?"

Dak lost himself in the forest again. He loved this place. Tennessee was his home, but something called to him. It was a distance voice, echoing in the canyons of both his memories and his potential.

"I've always wanted to travel," he confessed.

"Didn't get enough of that in the army?"

Dak huffed. "Not the same thing. They mostly just took me to deserts. And I didn't get a chance to investigate the local history."

"Sounds like you want to be an archaeologist," Will offered.

"Maybe. I don't know. That sounds kind of boring to me. Have you ever been to a dig site?" Will shook his head. "Lots of scraping and brushing and digging with small tools. I need a little more adventure, more mystery than that. I like a good mystery."

"So, what then?"

"I don't know," Dak said, still staring into the distance after the buck. "But I'll figure it out.

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Thank You

Thank you for taking the time to read this story. We can always make more money, but time is a finite resource for all of us, so the fact you took the time to read my work means the world